Timothy Cook

(born 1958)

Kulama, 2014

Footnotes

PROVENANCE
Jilamara Arts and Crafts, Northern Territory
Private collection, Melbourne

'Each year, Japara the moon man, throws a golden halo at the end of the wet season, radiating Kulama law and signalling that it is time for Kulama on earth.

Kulama is the name of poisonous cheeky yam found in abundance on the Tiwi Islands. Once the yams are harvested they are left to soak in water inside tunga for one week before they can be cooked in ground ovens. During this preparation time, Tiwi hold their major ceremonies, culminating in the great feast of Kulama...

Now best-known for these magisterial two-dimensional Kulama paintings, his recent work almost exclusively focuses on these designs.

On a dense surface of ochre and pigment, a circular icon commands its place (and space). This circle is the central feature in these works, layered with a multitude of meanings and readings; it also signifies the themes and ideas that are enclosed inside an oval of ideology.

Cook's works have evolved from repeated, often linked, motifs – on occasion resembling orbiting galaxies or elaborate science fiction satellites – into commanding singular images of the Kulama 'circle'. The circle is the place where important ceremonies are performed, in particular the initiation ceremonies. In a sense, it's the point where a young man begins his life'.

Bruce McLean, 'Everything Returns to Place' in Seva Frangos et al., Timothy Cook: Dancing with the Moon, UWA Publishing, Crawley, 2015, pp.67-68

This painting is accompanied by Jilamara Arts and Crafts documentation